The Light of Dying Stars
by milomochi
Summary: When you have too many dreams, it's difficult to simply pick one to pursue wholeheartedly. As someone who decided on her high school course with a coin toss, Tachibana Akari still isn't sure if she's in the UA Hero Course out of a rebellious streak or because she actually wants to be a hero. Hopefully she won't end up dead playing hero before she makes up her mind. OCx?
1. Chapter 1

**知らぬが仏**

 **しらぬがほとけ**

[shiranu ga hotoke]

 _Not knowing is Buddha; Ignorance is bliss_

* * *

"Hey, watch it!"

Barely a second before a blur of green collided with a tower of boxes on a small cart, everything froze.

Midoriya Izuku blinked.

He was floating. Why was he floating?

He had been in a rush to get to the beach park. School had ended a little later than usual; the rest of the class ditched him to finish cleaning duty on his own again, delaying his packed training schedule by a solid 15 minutes. All Might had mentioned that he was coming to see him today, and he'd probably reach the beach park soon. Not wanting to be any later than he already was, Izuku dashed out of his apartment after quickly changing out of his school uniform, making a turn at the corner of the corridor a lot faster than he probably should have. All he saw was a blur of brown when he felt a sudden tug from his clothes that roughly jerked him back.

He was in the air a few inches above the ground, hanging from his clothes that had somehow gained a mind of their own and decided to float up in a blatant attempt to defy gravity. The soft cotton material of his workout shirt and his nylon shorts were scrunched up and wrapped tightly around his body despite their loose fitting, lifting his entire body up into the air. The flimsy material, however, was hardly able to withstand his weight and was rapidly losing their hold over his person, leaving him to droop like an awkward marionette.

 _What_.

He looked up. Three huge cardboard boxes loomed over him, balanced precariously on a little cart that was probably smaller than it should have been for its load. If not for this little floating episode that had pulled him back, Izuku would have crashed into them in his hurry.

"Seriously, can you guys be careful?" A feminine voice came from behind the boxes.

Izuku's feet were planted firmly on the ground again after a brief sensation of being pulled downwards by his shoes. The tight grip of his clothes had also been released, returning to its original loose shape.

Someone's quirk? It seemed like a quirk that could manipulate clothing. Perhaps it was similar to Best Jeanist, a quirk centred on the manipulation of clothing fibres? The scrunching up of the material seems to indicate otherwise though. The entire fabric moved, not the individual fibres. Besides, he had felt a distinct tugging from his feet. Even his shoes had moved.

Izuku broke out of his stupor when a man popped his head out from behind the boxes. Grey haired and bespectacled, he gave an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry young man, for putting you into danger like that. I knew I shouldn't have stacked the boxes up so high. We'd have to thank Tachibana for saving us," he said in a low voice, gesturing to someone behind him.

"A-ah no! It's okay! I'm fine, I shouldn't have run so recklessly in the corridor either, please don't apologise!" Izuku replied frantically, quickly moving out of the way so that the man could pass. "Thank you, um… Tachibana-san?"

The elderly man gave him a small nod and pushed his cart away, revealing the frame of another person, his…saviour(?), as he moved.

With jet black hair tied in what looked like an elaborate braid that Izuku could not name, his saviour turned out to be a girl who looked about his age. He could only see her side profile — she was crouching down, looking through the viewfinder of a sleek black camera in her hands that was trained on a… trash bag.

"No problem. Sorry for using my quirk on you without permission," the girl — Tachibana, replied without even sparing him a glance. She paused and shifted. The shutter of the camera clicked. "Running around blindly doesn't seem like a good idea though, you might want to think about that."

Izuku flushed bright red, not quite sure how to respond. A _girl_ was speaking to him. Albeit she wasn't actually looking at him, but she was speaking to him. _Him_. Midoriya Izuku. His hand flew up to rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"I-I… um… I… I'm s-sorry. T-thank you." Izuku managed to fumble out, somewhat dazed. Not only had a girl spoken to him, he actually managed to say something back. With that little revelation, his eyes darted around the corridor, looking at everything and anything that wasn't the girl before him.

For a long, excruciating moment, the gir—no. Tachibana. The girl whom the man had called Tachibana, didn't reply. Izuku watched as she inspected the photo she had just taken. (Why was she taking pictures of a trash bag? He didn't get it.) Unsure of what to do, Izuku stood in place. He waited.

Unfortunately for him, however, Tachibana did not deign to acknowledge him after that short exchange and was content to let him be. Izuku didn't know that though, so he wasted his precious time inspecting his surroundings instead. (All Might had to be waiting by now, he really needed to leave soon.)

The door of the apartment unit they were standing outside of was open. Several trash bags, filled to the brim, were deposited at the doorway. A rustling of plastic and sounds of people moving things around could be heard from the apartment.

Izuku twitched. Curious, he mustered up his courage.

"I-is someone m-moving out?"

Suddenly, sharp blue eyes were trained on him. Hard, intense gunmetal blues seemed to pin him in place. He wanted to flinch and look away, yet Izuku could focus on nothing else.

"Your neighbour has passed away. Didn't you know?"

Her response hit Izuku like how he imagined the cart of boxes from earlier would have, had there been no external intervention.

"Eh?"

He was rooted to his spot, dumbfounded. If he had no idea what to do before, he was now a thousand times more confused and clueless.

"P-Passed away?"

She nodded, rising to stand up straight. Her eyes were still fixed on him, unwavering, accusing. The trash bag that she had been photographing levitated into the air, depositing itself into another cardboard box that leaned against the wall.

"An old lady, aged 73. She passed away roughly two months ago, but was only discovered three days back when the landlord came to check on her after she fell back on rent." She gave him a wry smile. "Did you know her?"

Izuku didn't know what to say. Was there anything that could be said? He nodded mutely.

How did her death remain undiscovered for _two months_? Unwelcome images of the kind old lady's body rotting, decaying, shrivelling up undiscovered bombarded his mind. Come to think of it, his mom did mention that she hadn't seen the old lady from next door at the market recently, but they didn't piece that information together with the lady passing away. Who would?

He didn't know. He _hadn't_ known. But what kind of hero would he be if he couldn't even help the people around him? They could have checked on her, then she wouldn't have been left alone for two _months_.

"Don't feel too guilty about it, kid. Lonely deaths, _kudokushi_ , like this are common." The elderly man from before interjected from behind him, now back with an empty cart.

"I'm sorry." Izuku apologised, though he wasn't sure what he was apologising for. There was a long silence.

He fidgeted a little. "May I ask about what you are doing now?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're cleaning out her apartment." The girl replied again with a hint of irritation. "You're lucky that we're way past summer now, or you might have been the one who discovered the body, stench and all."

"Oh."

"Now Tachibana, be nice! It wasn't anyone's fault, certainly not the boy. I didn't let you come along just to harass the client's tenants." The elderly man chided. He made his way to the apartment door and begun packing more filled trash bags into the cardboard box, but the bags flew up and fitted themselves into the box on their own before he was even done with one. He grunted. "Thanks."

The girl rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You're right." She turned to face Izuku, her shoulders tense. "Sorry about that. It's just frustrating that everyone seems so caught up in their own lives that they don't notice anything that doesn't concern them."

With a sigh, she continued. "I shouldn't have taken out my frustrations on you, though. I was in the wrong." She stuck out her hand with a small tilt of her head. "My name is Tachibana. Tachibana Akari. Nice to meet you. Don't worry, my hand's clean."

Needless to say, Izuku's brain spontaneously combusted at the idea of shaking hands with a girl. A _pretty_ girl at that, even if she was a little intimidating. Though she had a small, delicate nose and soft lips that wouldn't be misplaced on a doll, her eyes were fierce. They were sharp and narrow, and the intensity of her frigid blue irises only added to the intimidation factor. It was altogether a little incongruous, (and intimidating, did he mention that already?) But still, _oh my god a pretty girl wanted to shake his hand!_

"Ah-no it's okay! T-t-there's no need to a-apologise!" Izuku replied, frantically wiping his sweaty hands on his clothes before reaching out to reciprocate the handshake. "I-I'm Midoriya I-Izuku, it's n-nice to meet you!"

Tachibana and the old man shared a knowing glance, then they both burst out laughing. Izuku tensed. Did he do something wrong?

She gently let go of his hand, grinning. Suddenly Izuku wasn't quite sure why he found her so intimidating and scary earlier; her eyes curled into beautiful crescents as she laughed, causing them to lose their fierce edge, making her look infinitely friendlier.

"I'm sorry for laughing, but there's no need for you to be so tense, Midoriya I-Izuku-kun."

He couldn't tell if she was actually apologising or teasing, or both.

"Yeah," the old man added, slapping a hand on his back. "I see you haven't spoken to girls much eh, young man?"

Midoriya Izuku was mortified. They were definitely teasing. He had not known that it was possible for his cheeks to feel that hot, but they certainly were now. Part of him wanted to turn his back and sprint away from any further embarrassment, but he fought down the urge.

"I-I… yeah…"

The old man gave another hearty laugh. "The two of you look like you're about the same age. Are you a middle schooler, young man?"

Izuku gave a stiff nod.

"Why don't the two of you make friends then, Tachibana here is a middle schooler too. Third year. God knows she needs some friends; what kind of teenager follows old people around to clean dead people's houses?"

He figured that it was the girl's turn to be embarrassed now, but instead of flushing red like Izuku did, she rolled her eyes and turned to the old man with a glare.

"An intellectually inquisitive teenager who is concerned about social issues like these and gathering firsthand experience for her research, perhaps?" She retorted. Izuku was immediately jealous of her composure. "Besides, I have ample friends, you don't have to stress your old heart worrying about me."

She quickly turned to Izuku to address him. "Not that I don't want to be friends with you, I'd be happy to. Please don't get the wrong idea."

"Ah, it's okay, don't worry about it." He managed to say with more calmness than he actually had. "I'd be happy to be friends with you too!"

She laughed. "Well, to be honest, I don't exactly live in the area so I doubt I'll really see you again, but you can find me on my social media accounts, I guess."

As if struck by an idea, her smile widened, gaining a wicked edge to it.

"Photography and writing are my hobbies, so I'd love it if you checked my blog out! I run Sōmei Middle School's online newsletter as well, and we've been trying to increase viewership recently." Her friendliness suddenly started to make sense now. "Mind you, I'm not very good at maintaining online conversations though, but feel free to contact me through these platforms."

Though a part of him grimaced at the blatant publicity, he couldn't help but admire her boldness. Awkwardly, Izuku shared his contact details with the girl, and was rewarded with a satisfied smile after he had followed the girl and bookmarked her blog and school news site.

"Um… By the way, I've been wondering, are you part of the old lady's family? You guys don't really seem like it."

Tachibana stiffened, then shook her head. The tension from before returned.

"We are a professional cleanup crew that specialises in cleaning out newly unoccupied houses of people who have passed," she explained. "Well technically I'm not part of it, but Takahashi-san here," she gestured to the old man as she said his name, "and another two people who are inside," she continued, gesturing to the apartment, "are part of the crew."

"I'm just here to lift trash bags, give moral support and take pictures since the old man won't let me do any actual work."

"Oh." Izuku paused before asking again. "Then what about her family? The old lady's, I mean."

Tachibana grimaced. "People these days don't really have time for these things, so they pay others to do it. This time though, it's the landlord who called us in. This old lady… she… she didn't have anyone left."

Looking at Tachibana's grim smile, Izuku definitely regretted bringing up the topic now.

"Kudokushi cases like this are common though, it's really nothing new here." The old man added. He grunted as he used a roll of tape to seal the cardboard box and loaded it onto the cart, before turning to give Izuku his full attention. The corners of his mouth were turned down, and his dark eyes behind wiry spectacle frames seemed to speak of untold grief and resignation. "She has already passed and there's nothing you can do now, young man, so don't worry too much about it."

"O-okay."

A brief silence ensued, before the girl broke it.

"By the way, Midoriya-san, weren't you in a rush to somewhere? You were running to get to somewhere, weren't you?"

"Oh my, All Might!" Izuku squeaked. "I'm sorry I've got to go now bye!" With that, he dashed off at full speed to get to the beach park for his training.

Tachibana raised a questioning brow, sharing a look with the old man.

"Oh my, All Might? Strange expression, don't you think?"

* * *

 _AN:_

 _Hi, if you're here, thank you for reading! This is my first time publishing anything and I'm still not sure if I'll continue, but please leave a review!_

 _In case you were wondering, Kudokushi, which means lonely death, is a real issue in Japan due to their growing aging population. Many of the elderly are alone due to various reasons, such as their spouses passing away and not having any children, or no longer keeping in contact with their children for various reasons, such as a reluctance to become a burden. This results in many of the elderly who pass away due to old age remaining undiscovered in their own homes for an extended period of time. Special clean out crews that are paid to clean out apartments of people who have passed away really do exist, and sometimes even if the person who passed do have remaining family members, they may still hire these clean out crews to do the cleaning for them. This will feature pretty prominently in Akari's characterisation, which is why her first encounter with Midoriya revolves around this. Also, if you have any guesses on what her quirk is, please leave a review, I'd love to hear from you!_

 _Kei_


	2. Chapter 2

**早起きは三文の徳**

 **はやおきはさんもんのとく**

[haya oki wa sanmon no toku]

 _Early rising benefits you three pence; The early bird gets the worm._

* * *

When Akari had said that she wasn't expecting to see the green haired boy again, she had meant it. Frankly, she hadn't even expected to remember the encounter. She met new people every day. Hell, she _made_ it a point to try to meet and speak to new people every day, so the plain ones tend to be forgotten quickly.

She only remembered him because he clearly bothered to follow up on their conversation and browsed through her blog. The notifications from him liking the photos on her account had been a pleasant surprise. He even bothered to leave a comment on her latest post: _'I was wondering what could be so interesting about trash bags that you would take photos of it, but you really surprised me! This picture came out beautifully.'_

For all his lack of grace, the boy doesn't seem too shabby when it comes to dishing out compliments online.

The photograph she'd taken was primarily focused on the texture of the plastic. The creases of the translucent material, layered over a backdrop of little trinkets that filled the bag captured in good lighting, was both striking and aesthetically pleasing. It was a small homage to the old lady's life with the display of items that decorated her home. A small remembrance that Akari would keep, as she did for every client's home that she visited, so that even if no one else remembered them, she would. Even if she did not really know them, she would at least remember that they existed, every time she admired her collections of photographs. Simultaneously, the photograph also encompassed the themes of materialism, waste, and the temporal nature of human existence, as well as the idea of beauty in small details. _All_ of that, captured and immortalised, in this one, single picture. Akari was rather proud of it.

Flattery clearly had clearly gotten the boy somewhere, for he had been on her mind when she decided to hop onto the train heading to Musutafu a week later.

It was Saturday morning, and that meant free time and adventure for Akari. She was a creature of habit; Saturdays meant that she would be up by six, bright and early to prepare for an exciting day. If that's an hour later than her usual routine on weekdays, who can blame her? Weekends were for sleeping in after all. (Her father's eyes would be wide with mock horror if he heard that thought. _'Sleeping in is supposed to mean that one wakes up at noon, not 6 a.m. There's a difference!_ ' He would say.) She should give him a call soon, she mused. Check that he hasn't died via an explosion in the past week.

Akari hummed to herself as she prepared breakfast. While her hands were occupied slicing a potato into thin strips, next to her, an electric mixer was beating egg whites into nice, fluffy meringue and a rubber spatula was slowly mixing egg yolks with flour in a bowl. It was multitasking at its finest. She should open her own restaurant and save labour costs by running the kitchen by herself. Do they give out licenses for such purposes? It'd be such a pity if they don't, damn it.

Breakfast and lunch were prepared within an hour.

"Mom! Are you going to wake up? I made breakfast!" Akari shouted up to the ceiling. Though she couldn't actually see her, she sensed her mother turn in her bed upstairs. The movements registered in her mind, standing out from all the other negligible immobile objects that buzzed quietly. The older woman's mouth opened and her vocal cords vibrated to let out a sound Akari couldn't hear, before she pulled a pillow over her head.

"They're pancakes, mom! Your daughter, Tachibana Akari's fluffy pancakes! Made with love, nice and hot, fresh out of the pan! Are you ever going to eat breakfast with me?"

No response.

 _Whatever._ Not for the first time, Akari wondered if she was adopted. There was no way that the two slobs who disguised themselves as her parents were genetically related to her. If it wasn't for the uncanny physical resemblance she shared with her mother, Akari may have given these suspicions a lot more merit.

Just to spite the woman slumbering above, Akari viciously slammed the keys of the grand piano in the next room down, playing the most annoying tune she knew. Her mother upstairs groaned and threw a pillow across the room. _Serves her right_.

The pancakes were quickly devoured with some butter and a hint of maple syrup, while lunch was packed into a nice little bento box. The bits that did not fit in went straight down to her stomach. Deliberately, Akari left her mother's portion on the table with a somewhat passive aggressive note. _'I'm sure they'll be cold by the time you wake up, so try to heat them up yourself. Please don't burn down the kitchen while you're at it, or if you do, clean it before I'm home. Make time for dinner with me tomorrow, I'm going out. -Akari'_

With that, she dashed up two flights of stairs to her room to get dressed and grab her things, then she was out of the house before eight.

Part of Akari would never truly understand people who didn't like mornings. It was the best time of the day. The air outside was at its freshest and the grasses and flowers outside gleamed in the morning light, bright with dew. Sleeping it away would be a waste.

Her favourite part of Saturday mornings was freedom of it. Regardless of whether she had homework or club activities to work on, she never compromised when it came to Saturdays. This was _her_ time. Every week, she would pick out a random train line on the map, (and god knows that there's an abundance of train lines in the Tokyo metro system, she loves it), board a random train, and alight at a random stop to explore for a few hours with her camera. Nothing in life could really beat that. Japan was a beautiful place after all, especially for a girl like Akari who had an eye for detail and an appreciation for beauty in the simplest things.

Just for today, however, Akari had a plan. She had seen the poor excuse of a beach park that would be more aptly named as a dumping ground, when Takahashi-san was driving her home after the job the previous Friday. The tips of the trash heaps could be seen even from the road when they drove by. It was fascinating enough that Akari had promptly decided that she would return to explore it.

After a long train ride that was productively spent working on her math homework, Akari was positively bubbling with excitement. Her footsteps were swift and light as she alighted at the right station. She had searched the place up, and it had so much potential for great photos that she was absolutely certain that she would have a satisfying shoot. She navigated with an online GPS, deliberately missing her first bus to capture the symmetric shadows cast by the bus stop in the morning sun. She kept getting distracted along the way so it took her quite a while to get to the beach park, but she got there eventually.

The mountains of unwanted appliances and trash that covered the beach were both stunning and horrifying. She had seen it from Takahashi-san's truck, but clearly, it hadn't been enough for her to fully register the magnitude of the trash heaps. So much for Japan's good name of being a clean country filled with responsible citizens that took care of their own junk. Looking at this, it sounds very much like bullshit.

Akari's mind buzzed with ideas on how to get the best shots as she descended the stairs, absently noting the shifting of the sand beneath her feet. Climbing to the top of one of the trash heaps to take a bird's eye view of the place was a must, she decided.

Her first course of action determined, Akari promptly willed her shoes to lift her up into the air, carefully balancing herself by controlling the movement of her clothes. This was her favourite part of her quirk; who cares if you can move and lift things if you can't fly? It was one of the first things she tried when her quirk manifested. She could still remember how her parents had yelled at her in horror when they found her hanging from the ceiling lights after her shirt got caught during one of her first attempts to master her equivalent of flying. (There had been no need for them to be so worried, really. Even as a three-year-old, she'd had the sense to practice lifting herself up from the living room couch in case she fell. She wasn't stupid.)

However, she did have a couple accidents with overly stretched clothes and shoes with broken soles. So, she begged her father to design special shoes that could support her weight and act as a brace to help her balance after that. Advantages were meant to be fully utilised if you had them, after all. What was the point of having a father like hers if she couldn't ask for a few gifts?

From above, Akari selected the highest heap. She gave the fridge that stood at the top a tentative push, testing her weight on it. It didn't budge, so Akari planted her feet down firmly and released her mental grip on her clothes, satisfied. Lifting up the camera that hung around her neck, Akari first took a shot of her own feet that stood on the apex of the small hill.

Grimly, she wondered how it would feel if the hill she was standing on was not comprised of random, abandoned appliances, but the dead bodies of Takahashi-san's clients. Imagery like that was pretty common in popular media, Akari had seen them plenty of times in the manga she read. However, those drawings would never be able to convey how such a thing would feel, probably. Would the bodies squelch under her weight? Or would they be dry husks, leathery skin wrapped around bones? She wouldn't know; she'd never actually stepped on a corpse before and she hoped that she would never find out.

Takahashi-san's clients were people whom she never had the chance to meet, only to know of in passing after they were already dead. Perhaps it was arrogant of her to do what she did, taking photos of their things and all. By cleaning out their houses, they were essentially erasing the last remnants of their lonely lives, leaving empty spaces in their wake. What right did she have, to steal and preserve something from their lives, even in the form of photographs? Maybe she really was standing on a pile of dead bodies, using them for self-satisfaction, for fame.

With a small shake of her head, Akari blinked the image away. She should be grateful that most of the clients had passed peacefully. It was marginally less horrifying to think about, since they died when their bodies had reached their limits and their time had come. It was natural.

Akari forced a smile. Saturdays were supposed to be relaxing. She turned and positioned herself to capture the full expanse of the beach, quickly snapping a photo with a small click. Then, her eyes caught the movement of a suspicious blob of green. She paused. The moving green thing was on the other end of the beach, close to the little hut and the concrete walkway that extended into the sea. It was too far away to register on her enhanced senses, but she definitely saw it moving. Curious, Akari lifted herself up again, soaring through the air to get closer to investigate.

Turns out, she _would_ meet the green haired boy again, albeit a little unexpectedly. His name was _Midoriya Izuku,_ if she remembered correctly. If it wasn't for the fact that her concept of privacy was a little warped, she might have felt more like a creep when she observed him from above.

Beads of sweat glimmered in the sunlight as they trailed down the boy's face. His wild curls were in clumps, damp and unruly. The green of his hair and the red of his shoes reminded her of Christmas. Akari's fingers itched to take a picture, but she fought down the urge. Taking pictures of people without permission was rude, and she wasn't going to sink to that level. He ran to and fro, carting various objects from the beach to a truck parked at the roadside. The boy was on the scrawny side, but she could make out vague hints of muscle that was hidden by the sleeves of his turquoise tracksuit. Was he doing community service or something? Alone, without any supervision? That was just asking to get hurt, the piles of junk weren't exactly stable, he could get crushed underneath without anyone knowing.

Still, she didn't intervene until the boy wrapped a rope around a large cupboard. He tugged on it with all his might, huffing and puffing, but the cupboard barely even budged. Then, he promptly fell on his face.

"Holy shit, are you okay?"

She jumped down from her perch, using her quirk to guide her body to land right in front of the boy. Frantic hands flinched slightly upon initial contact with the sweaty boy, but she helped him sit up.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need water? I think you might be dehydrated."

Wide eyes stared back at her; dazed, uncomprehending. The boy's lips quirked up into a loopy grin. "I really must have overdone it, I haven't hallucinated before." He took in a shaky breath. The rapid pounding of his heart was especially loud, each pulse reverberating through Akari's senses like a loud bass drum.

"I'm real you know, Midoriya-kun," she informed him. "It'd be strange if you hallucinate about people you've only met once. Have you fallen for me already?"

He blinked in response. Then he slapped himself, with both hands. A bright scarlet rose from his neck, enveloping his whole face. 'W-W-What a-are you d-d-doing here!" He shrieked, rapidly crawling away till his back hit the cupboard he had been trying to move. The piece of furniture jerked slightly upon impact, but Akari held it in place before it could fall. He was still full of energy, it seemed.

A rumble of laughter broke from her throat. "Who, me? I came here to take pictures." She lifted up her camera to illustrate her point. "I believe that I should be the one asking you that. What you were doing earlier looked pretty dangerous."

She gave a pointed stare to prompt him to start talking. Or rather, start rambling. "I-I-I was t-training, and cleaning t-the beach, like community service y-you know? So that I can do something good for the society, and doing this helps to build up my muscles and..."

"Okay, that's cool and all, but why are you doing this without supervision? You could have fainted or something and no one would have known! Did you at least tell somebody that you would be here?" As she spoke, she pulled out her water bottle from her bag and levitated it over to the boy. "Here, have some water."

"Wha— is that your water bottle? I-I can't possibly drink from that!"

She arched a brow. "I haven't drunk from that bottle yet today, and I've washed it before that. If you're saliva conscious, pour."

He gave a small yelp and opened the bottle. Despite his initial hesitance, all of it seemed to disappear when the water reached his tongue. He must really have been thirsty, for he downed the water with large, desperate gulps. Only when all of the water was depleted did he seem to remember that she was there. Green eyes beneath messy curls met her own for a brief second, before they darted away guiltily, as if burned.

"Um... T-thank you. I'm sorry for drinking everything." He said in a small voice. "Oh, and, uh, I did actually tell someone that I'd be here. He comes to check on me from time to time and he should be here soon. I actually have water in my bag up there," he pointed to the area up the stairs, "so I can return you some water by pouring it back or something."

"Save it for yourself, I think you need it. Do you want me to get it for you?" Without waiting for a response, Akari rose from her crouch. It took her a couple of steps towards the stairs to get the boy's bag in range, but little effort was needed to actually bring it over. "There you go," she said, depositing his things next to him. "Do you need any food to replenish some energy? I have some with me right now."

She turned back to find the boy staring at her with bright, wide eyes. She was starting to see a trend here.

"A-ah no! I c-can't trouble y-you any further! I already d-d-drank y-your water and I'm okay now! Please don't worry!" He insisted. He waved his hands frantically, before he settled them into a strange position that hid part of his face with his arms.

"Oh, that was nothing, really." Akari gave the boy a little once-over, contemplative. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're shy like that," she teased.

"C-c-c-c-c-cute?!" He squawked.

It was absolutely fascinating to note that his face was somehow capable of reddening further. Part of Akari was even jealous. The boy sure had good blood circulation to be able to blush like that. Her own body was never quite capable of working up a blush; she only turned pale even after the most vigorous of workouts. Only the slight tan she had gotten in the recent years masked the sickly yellow pallor of her skin. Still, he really was adorable. It has been a while since Akari has managed to fluster anyone to that extent. Most of the kids she knew all had excellent composure, barring a few. Her juniors had been fun to tease, but most of them had gotten used to her already. Pity.

Since Midoriya clearly wasn't going to be able to give any response beyond incomprehensible shrieking, she changed the topic. "Well, never mind that. You said that you were training? What for?"

His face visibly brightened at the question. He sat up, abandoning the previous awkward position he had ended up in when he crawled away from her, back first. "I'm training to become a hero!"

That's cute. It took guts to dream of that, with all the competition around. "That's admirable. Was that quirk training? Or physical training?" She quirked her lips up into what she hoped was an encouraging smile, making sure that it reached her eyes. Something must have gone wrong, however, for the boy grimaced at her question.

"It's...It's physical training. I don't... I mean, I can't really use my quirk yet. It hurts my body since I'm not fit enough."

 _Crap_. It must be a sore topic, that must really be some quirk, if he wasn't able to control it even in his teenage years. "Uh, I'm sure you can do it! You seem very determined, and hard work is bound to pay off eventually."

He lit up again, eyes burning. "Mm! I'll definitely get there someday!"

 _Click._

"Eep! Tachibana-san?"

Hearing her name startled her into realising what she was doing. The boy's determined expression, those bright _, bright_ eyes that _burned_ like fire _,_ had made her snap a photo without realising it. It was a bad habit.

Akari covered her face with a hand. "Sorry. I didn't do that on purpose. You had a good expression so I instinctively wanted to capture it. I'll delete it if you want. Here, I'll show it to you."

She walked over to squat next to him, clicking on a button on the black device. The latest photograph bloomed on the camera screen. It came out well. Though the boy was plain and nothing much to look at, his expression _screamed_ of passion. A part of her instantly regretted offering to delete it. She gave him a tentative glance. "What do you think?"

"I think it's okay. I don't mind if you keep it."

"Yes!" Akari exclaimed, jumping up and punching the air with one arm in victory. "Thanks, I was hoping you would say that. I think this picture came out really well! Do you want it? I can send it to you if you like."

Her antics were rewarded with a small smile. "You must really like photography, Tachibana-san. Is becoming a photographer your dream?"

Her smile dropped momentarily. _Shit, that was too obvious._ She forced her lips up again. It must reach the eyes. "What are you talking about? I already am a photographer." She said with a wink.

"Um, I meant a professional one," he answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

"I'm not too sure about that yet. I haven't decided," she bit back with false cheer. "There are too many things that I want to do, it's hard to just pick one and just roll with it for the rest of my life. That's boring."

"A-ah, you have a point."

"Do I?" With a single raised brow, she plopped down onto the sand next to the freckled boy. It was mildly counter-intuitive to lean against the cupboard physically while exerting another force to keep it stable with her quirk, but she did it anyway. "You look like someone who was dead set on becoming a hero all your life."

The boy gave a small grin, sheepish. "Ha-ha, yeah. I wanted to become a hero ever since I saw a video of All Might when I was a kid." He admitted guiltily. "He's just so cool."

"Oh? I guess you're another one of those All Might fanboys then. Is he your favourite hero?"

"Yeah!" He exclaimed, nodding his head furiously in his excitement. "Do you have one too, Tachibana-san?"

Before she could answer, she was interrupted by a loud voice.

"Midoriya-shounen, are you slacking off?"

"Ah, All Might!" The boy squeaked, rising to stand ramrod straight in an instant like a startled mouse. A strange figure, a skinny man wearing clothes that were _way_ too baggy for him, approached. "I wasn't really slacking, I was talking to Tachibana-san here who helped me out," Midoriya mumbled.

 _All Might?_ That was a figure of speech, right? As the man drew closer, Akari observed him, cataloguing his every feature. He had spiky blonde hair, (blonde hair like All Might,) that was swept to the back of his head, leaving two large strands to frame his gaunt face. Shadowed eyes, baggy clothes and a skinny fram— _what the hell was that?_ Under his shirt, beyond what her normal five senses could detect, was a _huge_ scar, right under his heart. Akari still hasn't figured out how to map out the insides of a human body beyond the bare basics, but the man was definitely missing a few organs. Each beat of his heart seemed to be painful, laborious. The vibrations from his pulse sent the hairs on her neck standing. He should not be able to stand, much less move around like that. Did Midoriya know about this?

"Oh? Is this a new friend of yours?" The man asked. The air didn't flow right when he inhaled to ask that question, Akari noted, standing up to acknowledge the new company. A collapsed lung, probably. There was definitely blood clogging somewhere as well.

The freckled boy didn't seem to notice. "This is Tachibana-san. She likes photography and she's here to take photos today. We met by coincidence. I fell down earlier and she helped me up." At that, Akari gave them her most winning smile. He continued, "Tachibana-san, this is the person I was talking about earlier. His name is Al—, I mean..."

"Yagi. Yagi Toshinori. It's nice to meet you, young lady." The man cut in. He extended a hand to her. Midoriya didn't say anything, but his body jerked when the man had said his name. _Suspicious._ Akari reached out and shook his hand anyway.

"It's nice to meet you, Yagi-san. My full name is Tachibana Akari. I'm sorry for distracting your..." she paused. "Actually, what are you guys exactly? Is he your ward or something?"

"Ah, I'm just a... friend of his, who is supporting him on his journey to become a hero." Strangely enough, the man's heart rate sped up when he said this. Midoriya as well.

She wasn't sure if they were worried about her judging their age gap, or if they were hiding something more. If it was the former, there really was no need for that. Akari had plenty of older friends herself. Takahashi-san was already in his sixties.

"That's nice. Midoriya-kun was just telling me about his dream. I don't wish to disturb you further so I'll be taking my leave soon, but before that, may I have a quick word with him? Alone."

Dark, shadowed eyes widened, surprised. Those blue irises were rather stunning, Akari noted. Her fingers itched. Midoriya was stiff.

"Of course, go ahead."

"Thanks!"

The freckled boy himself did not seem to be capable of following the conversation, so Akari slung an arm around his shoulder to drag him away. She couldn't blame him. She was probably too forward and shameless for a shy boy like him. Though Akari felt infinitely more powerful and confident than the boy, it was somewhat awkward to have her arm around him. While he came off as scrawny upon first glance, Midoriya was actually taller than her. His shoulders were wider than she thought they would be, and also harder. The tracksuit was definitely hiding his muscles.

When Akari finally put sufficient distance between them and the blonde, the boy had already been reduced to a red-faced, blundering mess. She let it go, sparing him from another round of teasing in favour of more important things.

"Okay, Midoriya-kun, please listen carefully. I know we've only just met, but I promise I will do my best to help you. You can be honest with me. Is that man taking advantage of you in any way?" She asked with genuine concern.

"W-W-WHAT? NO!" Beads of sweat were flung off his curly locks as he shook his head with furious vigour. That was rather disgusting, to be honest. She willed it away, ensuring that none of it touched her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." The freckled boy insisted. His voice was firm and left little room for argument.

Akari breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good then. I just thought that he might be forcing you to work or something, you seemed nervous when he showed up. With his body condition, I doubt he's able to find work—"

"Wait, body condition?" Midoriya asked with a high-pitched squeak. His fingers twitched and his toes clenched. With that reaction, it seems like he does know something. Regardless, _she_ definitely wasn't supposed to know about that.

"Mmhmm, he looked very skinny, like he's malnourished or something." Akari deflected quickly. "Seems like he isn't doing too well financially, or maybe he doesn't know how to feed himself properly. Something felt off, so I just wanted to check. For all I know, he could be selling the junk you pick up to second-hand goods dealers to earn some cash."

"Ah... I see."

"Well, let's go back then, if it's nothing."

"It's really nothing! Thanks for your concern, but he's like a really important mentor to me. There's nothing shady going on."

She gave a small smile. "That's good then. I'm glad."

Akari didn't stay for long after that exchange. Despite Midoriya's assurances, something about the blonde man unnerved her. She was certain that he was no ordinary man. To be able to walk around and maintain a façade of normality with wounds of that magnitude, that must take immense willpower. She offered to take a photo of the duo when the man enquired about her hobby, and a snapped a few more of her own to cut the conversation before taking her leave.

The blonde's heartbeats rang in her head the whole time.

* * *

 _AN:_

 _Well, let me first give a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and/or favourited this story! I initially uploaded this on a whim, but the positive response, (I'm looking at you, TheKursed who was kind enough to review and give really long encouraging responses to my replies), spurred me on to write more! This chapter is actually twice the length of the previous one. o-0_

 _I hope that this chapter was able to give more insight on Akari's character and personality, as well as her quirk, though it wasn't explicitly stated. I'm still struggling to find a way to express in words what I imagine her quirk will feel like, so it might be a little awkward, but a full explanation will come in the future. Until then, keep guessing! I personally think that it's a rather OP quirk, but the limitations will show up soon enough. In fact, I've already hinted at it. :)_

 _Chapters 1 and 2 takes place roughly between late november and early december, so there's about three months left to the UA entrance exam. There should be about another 1 or 2 chapters before they officially start school at UA, where I establish more of Akari's character and her motivations. There are a few hints lying here and there, but I hope to be able to pleasantly surprise you guys, since I haven't found any fics with a similar premise yet._

 _Thank you for reading! Also, I'm sure you'll have good karma if you spared a few seconds to type a few words. Just a few would do, so please review? ;)_

 _Kei_


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